Home
by ButterflyGirl276
Summary: Annie Lakewood is horrified when her parents move them to Bristol right before her senior year. Annie is determined to spend as little time as possible in this new city, all she wants is to move back home and see her friends again. Will Annie stay convinced that all she wants is to go home, or will she find home in Bristol?
1. Chapter 1

I can't pretend I understand why my parents decided to move us to the UK at the end of my junior year of high school. They never gave me a choice; just let me know at the end of the school year that we were leaving in August. At first I was furious; they couldn't do this to me! I made plans to stay with Stacy, my best friend since I was five. But Stacy's family got an exchange student, and my parents insisted I had to come with them. I sulked almost the entire month of June, refusing to see anyone and wallowing in my own self pity, and by the time I realized I was being stupid and that I should be spending as much time with my friends as possible it was already July.

I hardly saw my parents the rest of the summer; in hindsight they probably though I was doing so on purpose and avoiding them. I wasn't really though, at least not consciously. I was much more concerned with spending as much time as possible with my friends. I was dreading the thought of not getting to spend senior year with my best friend of twelve plus years.

The one upside to this move (if you could call it an upside) was that I didn't have a boyfriend, so no need for the inevitable tearful breakup. Stacy was quick to point out that the guys in the UK were much better than American boys.

August came all too quickly; the move date was set for the 16th, two days before my seventeenth birthday. Stacy and my other best friend since grade school, Meredith, drove me to the airport; my parents were meeting me later, they had to sort out some last minute things with the shipping company. Both Stacy and Mere gave me my presents before I went through security. I silently willed myself not to cry; failing when I saw both of my friend's eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"I can't believe you won't be at school next years, who am I gonna complain to about Jeremy?" Stacy said, throwing her tanned arms around me.

"Annie, I'm going to miss you so much!" Mere added. "How can we do Fabulous Three sleepovers now?"

I laughed at her through blurry vision. "You guys will have to hang out and then Skype me. I can tell you all about how horrible school is without you."

"And all the cute British boys," Stacy added, wiggling her eyebrows. I burst into laughter, half laughing and half crying, receiving strange looks and glares from the other people bustling around security.

I glanced at my watch- 1:45. "Shit! You guys, I gotta go, my flight is at 2:30. I love both of you so much, I'm probably going to die without you, make sure we have regular Skype dates; I want to know everything that happens at school."

"Of course!" both of them exclaimed.

Mere pulled me into a tight hug, rubbing my back and squeezing me against her. "I love you so much, Annie. I don't care that you'll be in England for a year; you'll always be one of my best friends. Skype me always, and make sure you come back here for college. I might collapse from withdrawal if I don't see you as soon as possible."

My throat was too tight to say anything; I just hugged her tighter, hoping she knew how much she meant to me.

I turned to Stacy, and almost burst into tears. She was crying, tears slowly leaking out of her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. I pulled her to me, already feeling the hot, salty liquid slipping out from under my eyelids.

"Stacy, I love you. We've been through so much together, and we've been friends forever. I don't care that I'm moving to another country, we can't let that come between us. We aren't going to let this come between us. Don't worry, you can rant to me any time you want to about Jeremy."

She looked up at me and nodded, pressing her lips together.

"I'll talk to you guys as soon as we get to the house." I turned away and passed under the metal detector, looking down, not wanting to accept the fact this would be the last time I would see my friends in person in a long, long time.

Next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake, my mother leaning over me. I made no attempt to talk to her, instead turning to look out the window.

"We're landing in about fifteen minutes." My mom whispered.

I was a little surprised, I usually didn't sleep on planes, and if I did sleep it wasn't for very long. I guess I was just overwhelmed. Crying also always drained me, making me sleepy.

I tuned out the rest of the flight, trailing behind my parents as we walked to the baggage claim after we landed. I hardly noticed when we got into a taxi, my father giving the cab driver the address.

Unfortunately, we weren't moving to London. Had we been going to the large city, I might have been slightly less upset about the whole thing; I had always wanted to visit London, see Buckingham Palace and go on the London Eye. But no, we were moving to Bristol; a city a two and half hour train ride from London. My father had been offered an executive position at a law firm here, and the job was so good, he decided to take it. My mother would be applying for teaching positions; she left her job at the local community college back home.

I, also unfortunately but inevitably, would be going to school. I found it odd that high school was called college over here; but I was more weirded out by my schedule. I had random free periods, and classes I wouldn't ever take back home. I had known exactly which classes I would be taking senior year at Roosevelt, but none of that seemed to be taken into account for my schedule at my new school.

Lucky for me, I would only be doing year thirteen. The administration was kind enough to not force me into two years of sixth form- the name the UK had for junior and senior year. It was highly unusual, and I still had some classes with the year below me, not that I cared. I only really cared about getting out of here as soon as possible.

I sighed as the taxi pulled up to our new house. Mom pulled me against her, squeezing my shoulders, trying to give me some comfort. I appreciated the gesture, even though it did nothing to quell my feelings of loneliness.

As I got out of the car, moving around to grab my suitcase out of the trunk I noticed some kids, around my age give or take a year, hanging about in the garden of the house across the street. I paid them no attention, even as one of the boys, the one with short, sandy brown hair raised his voice. My parents had already gone inside, leaving me to tackle my bag inside.

"Hey babe!" The brown haired guy called over, sounding drunk.

I had finally managed to turn my bag the right way round and swing my backpack over one shoulder. I was in no mood to talk to anyone, especially not some overly confident douche. I didn't even bother to look over, settling for giving him the finger as I shouldered my way through the front door. I heard laughter as I shut the door loudly.

"You alright honey?" Mom asked, concerned.

"Fine," I muttered, turning to walk up the stairs to my room, the second door on the right. I dropped my bags on the floor and dropped myself on the bed, which had already been set up by the movers who had dropped by earlier.

I rubbed my hands over my face, exhausted. After a few short minutes I pushed myself off the mattress, pulling my laptop out of my backpack. I opened up the Skype application, grabbing my water bottle before I checked to see who was online. I saw the green light up by Stacy's username, and immediately clicked on her face and video called her. I felt my shoulders fall as her face appeared on my screen. This was nowhere near talking to her in person, but it was the next best thing. I settled in for a long chat with my best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I have no excuses. Senior year is crazy, and also I want to get into college. Sometimes I have a social life. I will attempt to update more often, but no promises.**

**Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended, I own nothing you recognize.**

**Okay, on with chapter two!**

All too soon, the first day of school arrived, bringing with it mood appropriate gray and drizzle. Since I experienced this type of weather nearly 24/7 when at home, I didn't bother to dress specifically for warmth or dryness; instead slipping on jeans, my favorite flats, and a jacket I had gotten from dance team last year.

By the time I had gotten my makeup and hair done satisfactorily and gotten my school bag together, both my parents had already left for work. Mom had gotten a job last week as a part time librarian in the elementary school down the road. I strode into the kitchen, intent on grabbing an apple for breakfast and buying something for lunch; there had to be food around school somewhere, right? However, just as I was about to leave, I noticed mom had adorably packed me a lunch and set it on the counter with a note: _Annie, I hope you have a wonderful .first day of school. I will be home around 4 o'clock. I put the key to the front door on the dining room table in case you get home before me. Your father won't be home until 6. Love, Mom._

I smiled a little at the absurdity of a note on my lunch. I was essentially a senior in high school, much too old for packed lunches and notes, but I appreciated the gesture all the same.

I reached Roundview College ten minutes before the first bell. Being totally unfamiliar with the British school system, I listened to my gut and decided to head to the main office, figuring the faculty knew they would be getting, essentially, an exchange student. At first the layout of the school confused me to no end; all the corridors seemed to end either in dead ends or circle around to where I had started. Finally, I gave up on looking like I belonged there and pulled out the map that had come with my orientation packed; searching the paper for the main office.

Eventually, with extensive help from the map, I managed to figure out where it was I wanted to go. As I reached the main office, I glanced up, noticing for the first time the absence of other people. I found this confusing, wasn't school already in session? Shrugging, I pushed into the room anyways.

Immediately, I came upon a desk, a woman with mousy brown hair in a ponytail sitting behind the imposing wooden structure.

"Hi, I'm the new student, Annie Lakewood," I said, my voice wavering embarrassingly, making the statement of my name sound much more like a question than was intended.

"Oh, yes, dear, we were informed of your arrival. Here is your schedule; if you have any issue, please contact the counseling office. The rest of the students are in the beginning of the year assembly, it would probably be best if you join them." Her voice was brisk, and to the point. She was nice, but didn't waste any time coddling me, speaking quite frankly. I nodded, only barely following her, but understanding none the less. When she finished speaking she looked at me pointedly, and gestured towards the door. I haltingly stepped towards it, turning around halfway and starting to ask where the auditorium was. "Down the hall and to the right," the secretary said. I nodded, standing awkwardly by the door for a few seconds before pushing the door open and heading down the hall.

After what seemed like a lifetime, but in reality was probably only about thirty seconds, I stood outside of the auditorium double doors, trying to decide whether or not I actually wanted to walk inside. Objectively I knew I should, I needed the information provided during the orientation; but I so desperately didn't want to walk into a room full of high school aged kids on my first day in a new country. Finally, after telling myself several times that I was being stupid, I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

What I walked into was far from what I had expected; the room was crazy, the teachers standing there speechless while the kids were going crazy. The noise was deafening, but I only noticed one person when I looked up at the bleachers. That might have partially been because the guy was standing up with his pants down, but, you know. I looked away quickly, feeling my face flush, but not before I noticed the very interesting tattoo he had down there. Realizing I still hadn't been noticed, I rushed over to the bottom step of the bleachers before I could be noticed; thanking God the whole way. As soon as I sat down, the redhead beside me turned her head. "Hi, who are you?" she asked, as casual as if we had just met at a dinner party.

"Um…." I stammered, a little disconcerted by her casual tone, "My name is Annie, I just transferred here," I explained quickly.

"Are you from America?" she asked.

"Yeah…." I answered.

"Cool, my name is Emily." She said, and abruptly turned away from me to pay attention to the teacher who was trying to get everyone to calm down. I turned away too, and stared at the wall, thinking. I didn't look up again until everyone started to get up. I stood up shakily, following Emily out the door. I didn't really know what to do now; I assumed I had class of some sort, but from what I'd experienced so far, I had no idea what to expect. No one else seemed to be going anywhere or doing anything important, so to pass the time I decided to try and find my locker. Forgoing the useless map for the moment, I just wandered, trying to look like I belonged there and knew what I was doing.

Much to my surprise, I eventually found my locker, although there was already someone, or three someones, sitting the hallway, leaning against the locker next to mine. I wasn't sure what to think of them, so I decided on steadfastly ignoring them, should they talk to me. As I walked up to the locker next to them, I noticed the one with crazy curly hair was talking, seeming distressed.

"You guys, we're now…eight minutes late! I've never been late to a class, I'm never late!" The dark haired one then proceeded to slap him across the face, apparently trying to snap him out of whatever panic he was in.

"JJ, calm down, it's fine," he said, sounding exasperated.

I didn't notice the last guy for a few seconds, and it was another few before I realized he was the kid who had his pants down earlier, during the assembly. He had short, sandy brown/ blonde hair, and was consulting a list, being uncharacteristically quiet. I quickly looked away as his eyes tore themselves away from the list to appraise me.

"Well, who do we have here?" he said, and I noticed an interesting accent tingeing his voice, making it sound more intimidating. I slowly turned to look at him, starting to regret my earlier promise to myself, that I wouldn't be intimidated; I would talk back if someone talked to me. However, by the time my eyes met his face, I was almost ready to turn and run; but I was tired of being scared of people, and if I was to have any friends in this new place, I would have to be braver than I was comfortable with.

"Hi," I said as cheerily as possible, "I'm Annie!" and like the massive nerd I was, I stuck my hand out in front of me, still smiling brightly. The guy in front of me started at my outstretched hand for a minute, a smirk on his face. Then, just as I was about to let my hand drop, he took my hand in his. But, instead of shaking it like I was expecting, he brought my hand to his lips and gently kissed my knuckles; he then let my hand drop and bringing his eyes back to my face.

"James," he said. With that he turned away from me to continue his inspection of the piece of paper in his hand. It took me a minute to recover from that, but as soon as I could speak again, I turned to look at the two other guys in the hallway.

"Hi," I said, a little awkwardly, not sure how they would respond. The dark haired one ran a hand quickly through said hair before giving me a little awkward wave gesture thing.

"Freddie," he said quietly.

"I'm JJ, pleased to meet you, Annie!" The sandy haired guy, excuse me- JJ- said, holding his hand out for me to shake. After a minute of silence I nervously checked my phone for the time, and almost swore.

"Hey, nice meeting you all, but I'm already late for class, and with my current map reading skills, I'll be lucky to get there before class is over," I said hurriedly, reaching over to slam my locker door shut.

"What class do you have?" Freddie asked me.

"Ummm…the second introduction thing, or whatever," I answered, unsure of the actual name of the class.

"Hey, we're going there too, we can help you find it," JJ said, looking excited.

"That would be awesome, thanks," I said, smiling at him.

The three of us headed off to class; and while Freddie and JJ seemed willing enough to talk to me, asking questions after I told them where I was from and why I was here, but James (or Cook, I wasn't really sure, his friends called him Cook) didn't speak up again, but occasionally glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. I didn't really think anything of it at the time; but later, when we got to class, I realized his behavior seemed a little strange, especially for what I assumed his loud and boisterous personality was.


End file.
